My Puppy Ate Half A Tennis Ball

My Puppy Ate Half A Tennis Ball

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Posts: 6

Jan 29 08 7:26 PM

So far so good, but earlier today Trooper, our 7-month old, 50 lb. boxer, ate half a tennis ball. It was one of the PetSmart brand balls, and it appears he
was more interested in breaking the ball down into tiny little pieces instead of just swallowing the whole thing, but I'm still worried. I immediately
called the vet and was told to feed him some slices of bread to help cushion and bind the pieces together to help him pass it. He appears to be fine right
now, and I'm keeping an eye on the situation to make sure everything 'comes out' okay. We'll be visiting the vet tomorrow if it doesn't
appear in the yard. Needless to say, tennis balls are now off limits!

He's a rugged little guy, so I'm hoping all will be okay, but I'm still worried. Anyone else ever have their dog eat a tennis ball?

And they all lived happily through things. Regular tennis balls are much more sturdy than pet grade ones, by the way - and cheaper. If it still gets munched -
Planet Dog makes a tennis sized ball that my dogs love.

Hehe... My dog, Vicious, is 9 months and since he was about 3 months old he's been doing that. >^.^< He's never had any problem passing the
little shreds of fleece/cloth from the outside of the tennis ball, or the little rubber/plastic pieces he chews the inside into. I've tried every different
type of ball and tennis ball, all different sizes, he tears them all apart. ^^; If you say anything that even sounds like "ball" or if you even spell
the word, he grows crazy trying to find it behind furniture and such, where he usually loses it. Happily he's never tried swallowing any ball whole.
>^.^<

Switch to hockey balls. They don't tear like tennis balls, are quite resilient and are too large to swallow. Another plus is they don't pick up the
dirt quite like the way tennis balls do when you're playing fetch. What goes in usually comes out so here's hoping Trooper is a pooper.

My GSD ate half of one of those plastic balls that vibrates. It was about the size of a softball, and the half he ate contained a D-sized battery and a motor.
No evidence, no problems. Though occasionally he would start vibrating for no apparent reason...

I'd stay away from PetSmart tennis balls.... I got one and in an hour Champ tore it apart and ate half of it. I don't think they're very durable,
not like a normal tennis ball. But Champ had no issues from eating it, he seemed to be quite happy and proud of himself!

KChristie is right. Many dogs do ok from eating foreign obects....many do not. I had a dog require emergency surgery from eating a foreign object....they had
to cut his intestine in 5 places to get it out and he had a major intussusception from his body trying to unplug it. We were very lucky. Not a vet but for
those reading...some things to watch for would be...no eating, lethargy, vomitting, diarreah, straining to potty and not producing anything, restlessness,
distended tummy, seems to be in pain(all or some of these can occur) and of course just being "off". This isn't everything...but things I noticed
with my dog. I for one don't leave tennis balls around for my dogs to play with unattended since they do seem to be on the "like to chew and
destroy" list. And, just because a dog has passed many things without problem doesn't mean there won't be a problem at some point with some
object.

My lab had only been with me for a week when she ate one of those PetSmart tennis balls. Not just half, the WHOLE ball. They are terrible!!

I contacted my vet and actually left her there for the day while I was at work. He basically fed her and then waited to be sure she was able to keep the food
down. He said that if she was able to keep her food down that it would all pass through. It did. The ball was red and like vegarose said, it was easy to find
later in the yard. I have to agree that it is important to contact your vet. I used to work in a clinic and have heard some crazy stories about things dogs
have eaten.

Oops, I may have double posted or accidently sent a reply directly to Trievr. Sorry, I'm still a newbie!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone - Trooper's had 3-4 BMs since the tennis ball incident and things seem to be okay. He's active as usual and
he's eating and drinking normally. I was worried for a while, especially when I kept reading stories about things stuck in dogs' intestines. I was
afraid he would need surgery, but it appears the pieces were so small he passed them (at least I hope the pieces are gone by now). I always check on him when
he's playing with toys and he's been too quiet for too long, which is why he only ate half the tennis ball. Normally he's such a good boy that I
forget he's still just a puppy!